The Chrisse Collection
by KatieK102
Summary: One-Shot #4 - The Seat Thief - Clarisse was already having a horrible morning, so why not throw in an attractive seat-thief to further complicate things? ("Why haven't you moved yet, and who- who even are you? I've never noticed you in this class before." "I actually just re-enrolled. See, I dropped out last year 'cause I kinda went insane - college stress, y'know?")
1. Thunderstruck

**Disclaimer - If I owned Percy Jackson then it would be notably less awesome, but Clarisse would have been one of the seven, so I guess that's a plus?**

* * *

 **Thunderstruck**

* * *

" **Once you fall for someone's personality, everything about them becomes beautiful." - Unknown**

* * *

 _Powerful._

He always knew she was. If Clarisse wasn't powerful then she couldn't be the daughter of war. But he never understood just how powerful she truly was until the battle in Manhattan, when Silena was killed and Clarisse should have crumbled beneath the weight of her grief.

But she didn't crumble. Instead she channeled her grief and her rage and she found the power to slay a drakon. Without armor, without backup. She was so powerful that even her father, Ares, had to acknowledge her, and she received his blessing.

Clarisse was powerful. No one could deny it. And if they did, they were likely to get their neck snapped.

* * *

 _Dauntless._

When they were young, Chris had always thought of Clarisse as brave. As they grew older and he observed her in camp, he grew to believe that she was fearless. But when she rescued him from the labyrinth and, essentially, himself, Chris realized that she wasn't fearless. He realized that he'd set her on too high of a pedestal.

'Fearless' literally meant 'someone without fear'. And Clarisse, as hard as it was to believe, did indeed have fears. She had fears that haunted her in her nightmares, and she had fears that plagued her in the real world.

But dauntless. That was a different word with a similar meaning. To be 'dauntless' meant to 'demonstrate bravery and determination in the face of fear'. So, in other words, you still had your fears but you faced them head-on.

'Dauntless' actually wasn't a word that Chris learned to associate with Clarisse until a few weeks before the Manhattan battle. They'd been sitting underneath Theila's Pine, observing the camp below them, chests heaving from their earlier training session and fingers intertwined. She'd been teasing him about the time he'd met a monster in the forest and ran out screaming bloody murder.

"You should have ran back in and slayed that thing," Clarisse scolded him, an easy grin on her features. "That's what I would have done."

Chris scoffed. "That's because you're _fearless_. I'd bet you've never been scared of something in your life."

Clarisse had gone silent, and shifted her weight so that she wasn't leaning on Chris's shoulder anymore. It wasn't much of a reaction, but Chris knew Clarisse well enough to judge what it meant. He blinked as he stared at her and asked, "You mean you're scared of something?"

Clarisse shrugged. "Not anymore. But I… I used to be."

"What?" Chris almost wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. If something existed that was scary enough to frighten Clarisse La Rue, it must be something akin to the monsters from Tartarus.

She shifted again. "Don't worry about it. It doesn't even matter anymore."

"Resse."

Clarisse sighed, annoyed and hesitant. "I… it was you."

Chris jerked away from his girlfriend and stared at her like she'd grown a second head. " _Me_?"

"Not _you_ , necessarily. I mean… when I brought you out of the labyrinth, and back to camp. Chiron told me that he didn't hold out much hope for you, that Mr. D was gone and there was no other cure for insanity." she inhaled a shaky breath. "He said we would wait for Mr. D to get back, but there was no telling how long that would be and… you'd gone so far off the deep end I thought… if you hurt yourself while I was out training…" she bit her lip, and Chris's heart ached in his chest. Clarisse was the last person he would ever want to hurt, and yet, at one point, he'd been her greatest fear.

Despite her protests Chris had dragged Clarisse closer to him, and held onto her like his life depended on it. After a minute of struggling she relented, and leaned into him. They didn't speak for a while after that; they just took comfort in the others' presence.

It was then that Chris realized Clarisse wasn't fearless; no one was truly fearless. But Clarisse was dauntless, and for some reason, Chris thought that made her even braver.

* * *

 _Radiant_ _._

Clarisse hated when Chris called her beautiful, because, in her eyes, she wasn't. Children of Aphrodite and Apollo were beautiful. Annabeth was beautiful. Piper was beautiful. Silena had been beautiful. Clarisse was not beautiful.

And Clarisse was just fine with that. She never desired beauty, she desired power and confidence and she certainly had both. Beauty was superficial. Beauty was temporary. 'Beautiful' - she even hated the _word_. It sounded too delicate, too fragile. Along with beautiful, Clarisse also forbid Chris from calling her pretty, gorgeous, and stunning. Chris didn't even try 'cute'. He thought she might break-up with him over that one.

Clarisse said she wasn't beautiful. Chris disagreed.

So he spent days trying to think of a word akin to 'beautiful' that Clarisse wouldn't hate, and for a while he thought he would never find one. She rejected everything he thought of! " _Just give up, Chris,"_ she scoffed one day. " _You're wasting your time."_

Funny. It didn't feel like a waste of time.

And then one day it hit Chris like a strike of lightning. Radiant. It wasn't a word he heard used very often, he couldn't even remember where he'd heard it from, but that didn't matter. All of a sudden he felt like a mortal who could finally see through the mist.

Clarisse wasn't beautiful. She was powerful, she was dauntless, and she was radiant.

"Radiant?" Clarisse asked, and raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious? I'm about as radiant as a nightlight."

But Chris shook his head, stubborn. "Clarisse, you're never going to think of yourself as physically appealing, but trust me when I tell you you're radiant."

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah? How so?" she asked, almost mockingly.

"It's the way you smile after a victory," Chris replied immediately, and Clarisse actually looked caught off guard by his response. "It's the way you laugh when you're genuine. It's the way your eyes light up when you excited, it's the way you walk, it's the way you smirk when you know you've won, it's- it's _you_!" he finished, as he gestured at his girlfriend, frustrated. Why couldn't she see what he saw?

Clarisse opened her mouth to protest when Chris cut her off. "I mean, have you ever heard, 'she radiated confidence'? Or 'she radiated power'? Clarisse! You never stop _radiating_ and, physically, you're _radiant_!"

It wasn't very often that Clarisse was at a loss for words; this was one of those rare exceptions. She closed her mouth and studied her boyfriend for a solid two minutes before she finally shrugged and said, "Okay."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Okay?" he echoed.

She shrugged again. "Okay."

"So… that's it? I can say you're radiant."

Clarisse rolled her eyes and turned her back on him, as a blush started to appear on her cheeks. "Sure, whatever. Knock yourself out, dork."

Chris smirked at her back; he'd won.

Clarisse wasn't beautiful. She was radiant.

* * *

 _Defiant._

It was a simple word that everyone associated the children of Ares with, but most notably, Clarisse.

Chris never argued when he overheard people call her defiant. It wasn't necessarily offensive, and if it bothered Clarisse then she did a creditable job of masking it. Besides, it was one of the traits that Chris liked most about her. She was defiant, headstrong, she marched to the beat of her own drum.

It wasn't until one lazy, stormy evening in May that Chris realized just how defiant Clarisse was.

They'd been at the beach, sitting together in the sand, and laughing about a prank the Stoll brothers had pulled on the Demeter cabin. The sky was streaked with dark gray and black clouds that promised a rainstorm, and thunder could be heard off in the distance. Usually storms went around the camp but Chris guessed Chiron was going to let this one in, most likely to water the strawberry fields.

So there they were, laughing and grinning and teasing each other. After a busy day of training and monster slaying and putting up with Clarisse's out-for-blood siblings and Chris's ready-to-prank siblings, it was nice to get away from it all and just enjoy each others' company. It was relaxing. The impending storm provided them with just enough background noise to be able to tune out the hectic camp behind them.

Clarisse had laughed at something he said and opened her mouth to respond, when suddenly thunder rumbled, and interrupted her. Clarisse frowned and threw a glare over her shoulder at the storm, and almost like a response, lightning lit up the sky behind her.

She stayed frozen like that for only a second or two, but that's all it took for Chris to think, _Oh my gods, she's the picture of defiance._

"Are you glaring at _Zeus_?" Chris choked.

Clarisse shot him a look. "I guess so."

"Are you _trying_ to get us struck by lightning?"

She rolled her hazel eyes. "Oh, come on, it's not like-" thunder boomed and interrupted her again. This time Clarisse growled and stood up. "Hey!" she shouted. "Keep it down up there!"

Chris's eyes widened. _Did she just tell Zeus to shut-up?!_ This girl was going to get him killed!

Chris would later swear on his life that Zeus and Clarisse were having an argument, because nearly a second later it thundered again, and was followed by lightning. Instead of letting his girlfriend rile the god up any further Chris jumped to his feet and clamped a hand over Clarisse's mouth. She glared at him for all she was worth, but Chris pointedly ignored the look as he dragged her back down to the sand.

"You," he started seriously, "are going to get us both killed."

Clarisse smacked his hand away and scoffed. "It's just a storm, Chris. Zeus isn't-"

The thunder that cut her off once more was no coincidence.

The son of Hermes looked at her dryly. "You've angered the king of Olympus."

Clarisse looked like she wanted to protest, but really, when it thundered again she knew it would do her no good. Instead she settled her gaze on the crashing ocean and huffed, "He started it."

Chris simply shook his head, before he pulled Clarisse close to him and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You're too defiant for your own good," he chuckled. "And I love you for it."

* * *

 **So, this is kinda my introduction into the Percy Jackson archives... *waves* Hi! I'm Katie :)**

 **I wrote for the fandom a year or two ago, but it was on Wattpad and my writing was just... ugh. It was the first fandom I wrote for, so they were my first stories and I just... it was terrible and we'll leave it at that. Anyway, I've wanted to get back into writing for the fandom for awhile now, and now that I'm on summer vacation I thought, 'why not?'. I have a couple more Chrisse one-shots planned for the future (perhaps a sequel to this one called 'Wonderstruck', where Chris and Clarisse's positions are reversed?), and a multi-chap Chrisse story. If you can't already tell, I am Chrisse trash.**

 **EDIT - Some of you might noticed that I posted this a couple days ago, deleted it, and then reposted it. When I was reading it the other night I cringed when I realized how many mistakes I found, and I regretted not adding a couple specific sentences. I decided to just delete it, correct the mistakes, and then repost it :)**

 **Reviews are wonderful/delightful/appreciated, and I plan on responding to them with a PM :)**

 **~ Katie**


	2. Not a Snuggler!

**Disclaimer - If I owned Percy Jackson then it would be notably less awesome, but Clarisse would have been one of the seven, so I guess that's a plus?**

* * *

Not a Snuggler

* * *

" _Chis_ ," Clarisse whined, as he dragged her towards the beach, "this is going to be so lame! I mean, if the Apollo cabin put it together then how good can it really be?"

From where they were setting up a projection screen, a couple of the Apollo campers shot Clarisse dirty looks. Clarisse returned them with more force than necessary, and Chris had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning when every single one of them promptly avoided her gaze.

She was so cute.

Then she was back to whining. "Its just a dumb movie on an old projection screen on a dirty beach. I can think of a million other things I'd rather do!"

"Like what?" Chris asked, purely for the sake of giving her false hope, only to yank it away in the end. Its not like he didn't already know her awnser, anyway.

"Like training!" Clarisse exclaimed, a surprisingly girly sound. "We could spar, or go running, or go monster hunting…" She looked at Chris almost desperately. "Wouldn't you rather go monster hunting?"

"We went monster hunting last movie night, hence the reason we're here tonight," Chris replied easily. "Remember our deal?"

"But-"

"Nope, we made a deal," Chris intrupted her. And before the daughter of Ares could protest again he pulled her down into a mountain of pillows and blankets, set up by the Apollo cabin for every couple.

Chris grinned obnoxiously at his girlfriend. "See? Comfy, isn't it?"

In return she glared at him, as she shifted on the mass of bedding. "It's too soft," she grumbled.

"Sorry," Austin apologized, as he walked past the couple. "Next time we'll give you a sheet of metal."

Clarisse growled in such a way that she reminded Chris of his pit bull, Roxy, back at his parents' house. She went to lunge at the Apollo camper but Chris acted before she could, and pulled her back into the mass of blankets. Then he started massaging the sides of her head, and smirked to himself as the tension visibly drained from her shoulders.

It was the same thing he did to calm Roxy down.

"Get off of me," Clarisse muttered softly. The order probably stemmed from the fear that he would ruin her tough-guy reputation if she continued to melt into a puddle.

Chris pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and then complied. "Just try to enjoy the movie," he said. "Maybe they picked something horror-ish, or-"

He stopped when _Apollo 13_ started to play on the projection screen.

Clarisse groaned loudly and slumped into the mountain of pillows.

Chris flashed Will Solace a grin, silently praising him for such a brilliant display of irony.

 **Not a Snuggler**

Chris was amazed when Clarisse lasted the first ten minutes of the movie. He'd planned for her to storm off into the forest the first five minutes of the movie, and then planned to follow her and drag her back. He even had his speech already prepared!

When Clarisse still hadn't moved after the first twenty minutes, then Chris became suspicious.

He leaned forward and studied his girlfriend's expression, only to discover that she was _sleeping_! _So_ _ **that's**_ _why she hasn't chased after any monster yet,_ Chris thought, begrudgingly amused. Instead of waking her up and forcing her to appreciate the evening that Cabin Seven had provided them with, he simply wrapped an arm around her shoulders and brought her closer to him. Most half-bloods already had trouble getting a full night of sleep thanks to their extreme ADHD, but Clarisse especially so. She would wake up several times in the middle of the night and head to the arena to slash some practice dummies. After a few months of adjusting his sleep schedule, Chris would join her, just to make sure she didn't overdo it.

If _Apollo 13_ was boring enough to put Clarisse to sleep, then fine. Chris wasn't going to steal a few extra hours of much needed rest from her.

 **Not a Snuggler**

They were roughly an hour into the movie when Chris felt something wrap around his waist.

He started, but relaxed when he realized that it was only Clarisse; somehow she'd manage to work her arms around his waist without him noticing.

Then the black-haired boy blinked, confused. As he observed his girlfriend's position a grin spread across his lips. What Clarisse was doing could be perfectly summed up with only one word: snuggling.

His girlfriend, the feared leader of Cabin Five, was snuggling him in her sleep.

Clarisse la Rue was a snuggler.

 _No freaken' way._

" _What are you doing to her_?" a voice hissed from behind him, and Chris glanced backwards only to be greeted by a clearly furious Sherman Yang and Mark Grant - two of Clarisse's half-brothers.

Chris barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course those two were spying on them. When were they _not_ being trailed by one of Clarisse's crazy siblings?

"A better question is what are you doing here?" Chris retorted. "Tonight is _couples' night_! You're both single!"

"I brought Mark as my date," Sherman replied, beady eyes narrowed.

"That's disgusting," Chris deadpanned. "Dude, you're _brothers_!"

"Half-brothers," Mark corrected him.

Chris scoffed. "I can't believe that you're so worried about Clarisse that you would form a gay, incestuous relationship." In all honestly their concern could've been heartwarming, if only Chris hadn't been so annoyed by it.

"Don't try to change the subject," Mark snapped, and was promptly shushed by Katie Gardner.

A retort of the sarcastic variety was on the tip of Chris's tongue, but he hesitated when Clarisse shifted. He held his breath and prayed to Hypnos that she wouldn't wake up; she really needed as much sleep as she could get.

Hypnos must have answered his prayers, because Clarisse only snuggled deeper into his side, still fast asleep. The son of Hermes exhaled a sigh of relief, and a fond smile played across his lips. He would never be able to tell her this, but _gods_ Clarisse was adorable!

The tender moment was ruined when Mark kicked him in the back.

"What the Hades is wrong with you?" Chris demanded, careful not to raise his voice _too_ loudly.

"Stop that!" Sherman commanded.

"Stop what, _holding her_?" He snorted dryly, "I hate to break it to you guys, but _Clarisse_ instigated the snuggling, not me!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Not because he was wrong or because he feared the boys' wrath (although he probably should have), but because they were never going to shut-up now.

"How _dare_ you!" Mark exclaimed, genuinely offended. "Take it back right now, or Zeus so help me _I will-_!"

"Clarisse is a snuggler!" Chris cried, exasperated. "So what?! Who cares?!"

The silence that followed his outrage sparked with electricity. Tension filled the space between Chris and the brothers, tension so thick that he could have slashed it with a sword.

"The counselor of Cabin Five is **not** a snuggler," Sherman started, his tone dangerously calm.

"Never use that word to describe her with ever, _ever_ again," Mark finished.

Chris pointed a finger at the counselor in question and said, "Dude, look at her. She's full on snuggling with me."

Sherman and Mark both looked poised to lunge for Chris's throat, but right before they could do anything, Katie Gardner stormed over to them, hand placed firmly on her hip. "What are you two doing here?" she demanded. "This is _couples' night_. Emphasis on " _couples"_!"

"They're here with each other," Chris said quickly, before either boy could explain. "Apparently they've decided that they're gay _and_ into incest."

Katie raised an eyebrow at Chris, and then looked back to Sherman and Mark. If looks could kill, their glares would have been strong enough to slay Chris a thousand times over.

"Is that so?" Katie mused. She heaved a sigh and then added, "Well, Miranda will be disappointed."

For some reason the remark caught Sherman's attention. "No, wait, don't-"

"If you don't want me to say anything to Miranda," Katie interrupted the son of Ares, "then get out of here and go slay some monsters or something."

"Fine, we're leaving," Sherman growled, as he stood to his feet. Mark protested loudly ("Why do you care what Miranda thinks?! Sherman!") but Sherman ignored him. Instead he fixed Chris with a glare and said, "This ain't over, Punk."

Chris scoffed. "I'm trembling in my shoes."

Sherman narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to respond, but though better of it when Katie cleared her throat.

As the duo made their way off of the beach, grumbling and cursing while doing so, Chris turned to Katie and smiled gratefully. "Thanks for that."

"No problem," Katie replied with a nonchalant shrug. "Travis and I were getting pretty fed up with them."

Chris tried to look past Katie to catch a glimpse of his half-brother. "So you actually got him to come, huh? He like the movie?"

Katie scoffed, "He keeps messing with my hair and blowing in my ear! I totally missed the beginning of the movie!"

"At least he didn't fall asleep," Chris gestured towards Clarisse, whose arms were still wrapped securely around his waist.

Katie's expression softened as she gazed upon the couple. "Yeah," she murmured. "You know… the entire camp knows how much trouble Clarisse has falling asleep. But she looks so _peaceful_ right now… That's pretty impressive. She really trusts you, Chris." Then the daughter of Demeter excused herself and returned to her spot beside Travis.

Chris watched her leave for a moment, and then looked down at his girlfriend. He brushed a few strands of hair from her face, and then studied her expression. Chris didn't typically pay attention to details, but he allowed himself a few moments to study her expression, every minor detail, and commit it to memory.

The little cuts and scrapes and scars that adorned not only her face, but her entire person; his favorite one was the scar right underneath her chin. Her jaw that was usually clenched and tight with tension, but right now was slack. Her lips were like a pale-rose color; they used to be chapped, but when they'd started dating that had changed, thanks to Silena's insisting. Apparently making-out was much more enjoyable when your lips weren't chapped. Right now those lips were slightly parted and very, _very_ kissable.

A few loose strands of hair still lay on her face, but Chris didn't bother brushing those ones away.

Looking at Clarisse right then, all Chris could think was, _Gods, she's perfect._

Suddenly she started to stir, and Chris had to hide his disappointment. He'd been hopping that she wouldn't wake up for a couple more hours, but he supposed he should be grateful that she'd slept for even a few minutes.

As the daughter of Ares blinked awake, she seemed to grow confused by her positions. But when she realized exactly how they were positioned her eyes widened with alarm and she pulled away from Chris like he'd burned her.

Chris blinked, startled by her reaction. "What was _that_ abo-"

"We were _not_ snuggling!" Clarisse declared, the same moment Chris had spoken.

Her outburst only served to further confuse him. "Why are you-..." Chris trailed off as realization dawned on him, and then a wicked grin started to play across his lips. "You already know that you're a snuggler, don't you?"

"I am **not** a snuggler," Clarisse growled viciously.

Chris promptly ignored her protest and asked, "How'd you figure it out? One of your siblings warn you?" His grin became more playful. "Or do you just snuggle with all the guys you fall asleep on?"

Clarisse glowered at her boyfriend for all she was worth, but after she realized that Chris wasn't bothered by the glare she sighed, defeated. "I… _y'know_ , with Maimer."

Chris's playful grin faded. "You snuggle with your electric sphere?"

"It's turned off," Clarisse said with a shrug.

Chris scoffed, "Right, because that makes it _much_ more normal. But… I guess it really isn't all that surprising, once it sinks in. What with your dad being the god of war and all."

Clarisse rolled her chocolate-brown eyes. "Thanks for clarifying that. I figured it was just an ironic coincidence."

Chris ignored her sarcastic remark and leaned forward, hands on his knees. "Do any of your siblings snuggle with weapons?" he asked. "Samantha has her sword, and Mark is pretty attached to that one shield with the crossbones."

"It isn't snuggling!" Clarisse cried, indignant.

"Oh? Then what would _you_ call it?"

"It's… it's holding our weapons close to our bodies so that if an enemy sneaks up on us, we don't have to grope around in the darkness for something to defend ourselves."

Chris raised an eyebrow and asked, dryly, "Do you know how stupid someone would have to be to sneak up on the Ares' cabin in the middle of the night?"

"Do you know how many times your siblings have done that?" Clarisse retorted. "Do you know how many times _you've_ done that?"

"... point taken. But that doesn't change the fact that you're a snuggler."

Clarisse huffed and glared at the blanket we were sitting on. "Shut-up. It's not like I can help it. I do it subconsciously, and I only do it because Maimer's important to me."

The statement took a moment to sink in, but when it did Chris broke out into a grin. "So I'm important to you?"

The question seemed to catch Clarisse off guard. She looked up, surprise alight in her brown eyes. Her features contorted into a hopeless sort of expression, as if Chris has cornered her and she couldn't find an escape. "Of course you are, you idiot."

Chris hummed, and leaned forward to press a chaste kiss to his girlfriend's forehead. "You're important to me too, dork. And by the way, I think it's totally hot that you snuggle with dangerous weapons in your sleep."

"Shut-up, Rodriguez."

* * *

 **Expect more of these kinds of one-shots from me; more cute, fluffy, and hopefully humorous! I think Chris and Clarisse have a fun relationship and I like toying around with simple concepts. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it!**

 **Reviews are wonderful/delightful/appreciated, and I plan on responding to them with a PM :)**

 **~ Katie**


	3. To Infinity and Beyond

Disclaimer - If I owned Percy Jackson then it would be notably less awesome, but Clarisse would have been one of the seven, so I guess that's a plus?

* * *

Summary - Chris never passes up the chance to quote Toy Story (unfortunately).

* * *

 _To Infinity and Beyond_

* * *

Clarisse was exhausted, and she whole-heartedly blamed Chris for it.

"C'mon 'Reese," Chris prompt her, as he jogged a few paces ahead of her. "Those monsters aren't gonna slay themsleves!"

But when Clarisse merely grunted in response Chris frowned and slowed down. When he reached her side he put his hand on her forehead, and his frown deepened. Clarisse spared him a withering glare. "What are you doing, Rodregriez?"

"Checking you for a fever," came her boyfriend's response.

Clarisse swatted his hand away and growled, "Knock it off, I'm not sick."

Chris sped up again and then spun around, so that he was walking backwards. "Then what's up with you?" he asked. "You're been dragging your feet all morning, and you barely touched your breakfast. Usually _you're_ the one telling _me_ to speed up!"

Clarisse increased her pace and shoved Chris when she passed him, although there was no intentional force behind the action ("intentional" being the key word, here. Chris still stumbled a bit). "I'm exhausted," she replied. "I only got an hour of sleep last night because _someone_ wanted to watch all the _Toy Story_ movies!"

Chris paused, offended. "Okay, first of all those movies are all classics. Second of all... you're blaming this on me? Clarisse, you get less than five hours of sleep almost every night!"

"Those four hours really make a difference!"

The son of Hermes scoffed. "They must. My _grandfather_ could _walk_ faster than you're _jogging_!"

Clarisse shot her boyfriend a stony-look. "Chris, your grandfather is _dead_."

"Exactly."

Clarisse growled and spun around to rip Chris a new one, but thanks to her sleep-deprived state she wasn't exactly alert, so she didn't noticed the large stone in her path until she tripped over it and fell on her butt.

A casual smirk played across Chris's lips, and he sighed dramatically as he made his way towards his girlfriend. "Watch where you're going, clumsy," he said, as he offered Clarisse his hand. The daughter of Ares glared at the offending hand as if it'd wronged her, but relunctently accepted it.

"Thanks," she grunted.

"No problem," Chris replied with a shrug. However, Clarisse regretted the action a moment later when Chris added, "a good soldier never leaves a man behind."

Slowly, Clarisse stopped brushed the dirt off her clothes and fixed Chris with a hard look. "Did you just quote _Toy Story_ at me?"

Chris's smug exteriror melted away, replaced with glee. "You recorginzed it!" he cried.

"Oh, for gods' sake," Clarisse grumbled, as she pushed past Chris and contuined towards the forest.

 **To Infinity and Beyond**

Clarisse eyed her surrondings suspeciously, crouched down behind a boulder. If there were any monsters in this part of the forest, then she was determined to find them, sleep-deprived or not. Thus far the forest was eerily silent, although that could quite possibly be because Chris was behind her, humming _'you've got a friend in me'_ rather loudly.

"Would you _shut-up_?!" Clarisse demanded, careful not to raise her voice too loudly. "We're trying to hunt monsters, for gods' sake!"

Chris exhaled loudly, his gaze transfixed on the sky above. "Clarisse, we haven't seen a single monster all morining."

"Probably because you're _humming_ , and they can _hear us_!"

Chris shot his girlfriend a sideways-glance. "We're talking about _monsters,_ Clarisse, not squirrels. If they could hear me then they would be rushing towards us, not running away."

The fact that Chris had a point coupled with the fact that Clarisse was seriously exhausted equaled a rather irritated response. "If you're just going to lay there and hum stupid Disney songs underneath your breath, then just go back to camp!"

" _Stupid_?" Chris echoed incrediously. "They're not stupid! They're timeless! They're-"

"Chris!" Clarisse snarled.

The dark-haired boy narrowed his eyes, before he shrugged and stood to his feet. He made a big show of dusting off his clothes, and then fixed Clarisse with a hard look. "You are a sad, strange little girl, and you have my pity. Farewell."

Clarisse growled and called after her boyfriend, "And stop quoting _Toy Story_ at me!"

 **Y** **To Infinity and Beyond**

When Clarisse emerged from the forest hours later, Chris was waiting for her. He was leaned aganist a tree and talking to a wood nymph, and when he caught sight of her he smirked. Probably becuase she was covered in dirt and bruises, and a twig was sticking out of her hair.

Their eyes met, and his smirk widened.

"No," Clarisse started furiously. "I swear, if you quote-"

" _Son of a building block! It's Clarisse!_ "

His stupid smirk widened. The stupid wood nymph giggled.

Clarisse spun around and stormed back into the forest.

 **To Infinity and Beyond**

Despite Clarisse's venomous protests and several threats, Chris insisted on dragging her to the infermery. She wasn't seriously injured, but a couple of those bruises looked pretty nasty and Chris wanted someone to give her a quick onceover. Clarisse wasn't on good terms with the children of Apollo so she tended to avoid the infermery whenever possible (not to mention the fact that only _whimps_ visited the healers for bruises), but Chris had yet to make another _Toy Story_ reference since he pulled her out of the forest, so she hoped this solified the end of that phase.

 _At least the infermery looks pretty empty,_ Clarisse thought. If one of her siblings knew that she visisted the infermery for a few dumb brusies, she would never hear the end of it.

If they knew they Chris was the one who'd dragged her to the infermery, there might be a riot.

They found Will Solace (Chris's favorite Apollo) teaching one of the younger medics how to properly bandge an ankle. The boy's tongue poked out of his mouth as he concentrated on bandaging his "patient's" ankle. The patient just so happened to be a very bored-looking Nico di Angelo.

"Hey Will," Chris chirped, as they approched the trio. "Hey Nico. Having fun?"

Nico shot Chris a dirty look, but Will grinned and waved. It was worth noting that when Will noticed Clarisse, his smile became tense.

"Of course we're having fun," Will replied. "Nico's the life of the party!"

Clarisse rolled her eyes at the stupid pun, although Chris chuckled. Nico, at least, seemed to share Clarisse's hatred towards puns, if his glower was anything to go by.

"I need ambrosia," Clarisse announced, her tone dry. She didn't want to spend anymore time in the infermery than absolutely nesscary.

"Well," Chris interjected, " _techinically_ she needs a check-up."

" _Techinically_ I shouldn't be in here in the first place," the daughter of Ares shot back.

"What's the problem?" Will asked.

Clarisse exclaimed "there isn't a problem!" the same moment that Chris explained "she's got some nasty lookin' bruises".

"You flirt just like Will and Nico," the little Apollo boy mumbled underneath his breath.

Nico scowled at the young healer, but Will simply chuckled and ruffeled his blond hair. He searched his medic box for a moment before conjuring a few squares of ambroisa, and tossed them towards Clarisse. "If its just some bruises than she probably won't need a check-up," he told Chris. Chris pouted but didn't push the healer.

For a moment there was silence. Clarisse chewed on the squares of ambroisa, her eyes fluttering blissfully as the food of the gods danced across her tongue. Chris was content to lean on her shoulder and watch Will, Nico, and the young boy (Colton was his name, Clarisse later found out). Very rarely was Clarisse ever content with total peace, and this was one of those rare moments.

Then the boy accidently tangled his bandage, and looked to Will pleadingly. "Um, I think I messed up..."

"It's fine," Will said encouragingly. "Just untangle the bandage and then keep going."

The boy tried to follow his counselor's advice, but he only made things worse. The bandage was knotted in several places and was beyond salvagable. " _Will._.." the boy trailed off.

"Uh, yeah," Will started, as he scratched his head, puzzled as to how he managed to make such a mess. "Let's cut this one off and then start over."

Nico groaned.

As Will and the boy started cutting away at the bandage, Chris leaned towards Clarisse and whispered, "I don't believe that boy has ever been to medical school."

"Of course he hasn't," Clarisse replied, frowning. "He's, what, seven years old? Why would he-" she stopped when she realized that it was just another quote.

Chris laughed as he watched his girlfriend's expression morph into one of irritation. "You're too easy," he teased her.

"Quit that!" Clarisse snarled. "It's annoying and stupid and-"

"What'd he say?" Will inquired, as he glanced back at the couple.

"He's been quoting _Toy Story_ at me all day!" Clarisse exclaimed over Chris's laughter.

Apperently Will didn't understand why Clarisse was so bothered. A grin played across his lips as he said, "You guys quote Disney movies at each other? That's so cute!" he shot Nico an accusatory look. "Why don't _we_ do cute couple stuff like that?"

"No," came Nico's simple but stern response.

"It's not cute!" Clarisse protested. "And we don't both do it - it's just Chris! And I- we-," she stopped adruptly when she realized that no one was paying her any attention. Chris was still laughing, Will and Nico were arguing over why they never did any couple things, and the young Apollo boy just looked painfully confused.

The daughter of Ares spun around to glare fiercly at her boyfriend. "You're an idiot!" she spat.

Chris summoned enough compousure to retort seriously, "Excuse me, I think the word you're searching for is "Space Ranger"." Then he burst into another fit of laughter.

" _Ugh_!" Clarisse snarled, as she marched out of the infermery. " _I hate the infermery_!"

 **To Infinity and Beyond**

Over the course of the next few days Chris used any excuse he could to work a _Toy Story_ reference into a conversation with Clarisse.

Such quotes included (but are not limited to): "You, my friend, are responsible for delaying my rendezvous with star command!"

"There seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere." (Clarisse didn't nesscarily disagree with that one.)

"This is called falling with style."

And "You've got a friend in me."

Needless to say, Clarisse was ready to strangle her boyfriend.

She'd yelled and shouted at him, smacked and shoved, but nothing Clarisse did seemed to effect Chris. He just kept on quoeting that stupid, _stupid_ Disney movie and then laughing at her when she exploded. At this point Clarisse wasn't sure how much more she could take before she really did kill him, so she'd resorted to the only soultion she could think of: she was hiding from him.

At that moment she'd taken residence by the campfire. The rest of the camp were taking advantage of the warm night air by hanging out on the beach, playing in the sand and splashing in the ocean. The moon and stars reflected on the ocean's surface, and even Clarisse could admit that the view the pretty. Not practical in the slightest, but pretty. Silena would have loved it.

Clarisse wouldn't have minded joining her campmates but, y'know, Chris.

So there she was, alone with just the campfire and her thoughts. She didn't really mind the solitutde; she'd spent all day trying to teach some Demeater kids how to properly hold a sword and dodging her boyfriend, so she'd definitely reached her social-quota for the day. _Still,_ she couldn't help but think, _it might be nice if Chris were here too. If only he would stop quoting that stupid movie._

"Did somebody order a _stupidly sexy_ son of Hermes?"

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

"Well," Clarisse rolled her eyes, " _stupid,_ anyways."

"Aw," Chris cooed, as he sat down beside her. He wrapped an arm around her and planted a kiss on her cheek. "I missed you too, Reese Cup. Of course, I wouldn't have to miss you if you would stop avoiding me."

"I wouldn't have to avoid you if you weren't so annoying."

"And thus, the circle of life contuines," Chris hummed.

Clarisse shot her boyfriend a warning look. "Rodregriez, I swear to Zues, if you go around quoting _The Lion King_ , I'll break up with you."

Chris blinked at her, puzzled, before realization dawned on his features and he laughed. "I wasn't quoting anything that time, but thanks for the tip. I'd hate to loose you."

Clarisse didn't respond. She simply stared into the depths of the fire, which was currently a soft shade of orange. That meant the campers' general mood was peaceful. Clarisse supposed that was a positive sign. At least they weren't having any murderous thoughts.

Chris trailed his thumb down a scar on her cheek. "This one's new," he commented.

"I got it when I ran into a monster when I was hiding from you," Clarisse replied.

"Did it hurt?"

She shrugged.

Chris frowned. He tightened his grip on her shoulders and brought her closer to him. Clarisse allowed him to, and laid her head on his chest. If she concentrated she could hear the beat of his heart. It was a steady sound, beating on like a drum. It was comforting, almost lulling her to sleep.

"How about this," Chris proposed, "I'll stop quoting _Toy Story_ if you stop avoiding me."

"I'll stop avoiding you if you stop quoting _Toy Story_ ," Clarisse shot back.

"Deal," Chris said, before he planted a kiss on the top of her hair. "Besides, I kinda miss these moments."

Clarisse never would have admitted it if they weren't totally alone, but, "So do I."

Chris shifted his arms until they were beneath her, and then he lifted her onto his lap. Clarisse started to protest but stopped when Chris said, "C'mon 'Reese, when's the next time we're going to be this alone, without your crazy siblings spying on us, or mine trying to catch us?" He had a valid point.

"Fine," Clarisse surrendered. She stopped fighting him and instead, leaned into him. She rest her head just beneath his chin and allowed him to intertwine their fingers. _Sorry dad,_ she thought. _But he made a really, really good point._

For awhile neither of them said a word. They just enjoyed each others' prescence, while Chris occosioanlly pressed a kiss to her forehead, or Clarisse stroked his hand with her thumb. It was nice.

"I love you," Chris murmered into her ear.

"I know." They didn't use the "L-word" very often, and Clarisse used it even less than he did. Still, he knew what she meant. And as a _Star Wars_ fan he was never very upset by her response.

"You wanna know how much I love you?" Chris offered.

Clarisse rolled her eyes, but this time there was no real annoyance behind the action. _Alright, but this is the last one._ "How much?"

Chris nuzzled the side of her face, and then whispered in her ear, "To infinity and beyond."

And there, as she sat on his lap and stroked his hand, as she was lulled by the steady drumming of his heartbeat, Clairsse couldn't help but smile softly.

* * *

 **Expect more of these kinds of one-shots from me; more cute, fluffy, and hopefully humorous! I think Chris and Clarisse have a fun relationship and I like toying around with simple concepts. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it!**

 **Reviews are wonderful/delightful/appreciated, and I plan on responding to them with a PM :)**

 **~ Katie**


	4. The Seat Thief

Disclaimer - If I owned Percy Jackson then it would be notably less awesome, but Clarisse would have been one of the seven, so I guess that's a plus?

* * *

Summary - Clarisse was already having a horrible morning, so why not throw in an attractive seat-thief to further complicate things?

* * *

The Seat Thief

* * *

Clarisse was running late.

Those who knew her wouldn't be shocked in the slightest; this was Clarisse La Rue after all. It was a wonder she enrolled in a university in the first place, but she wasn't the studious type; why would she make an effort to arrive to her classes on time?

But those who _knew_ her would raise an eyebrow, surprised. Clarisse might not be a valedictorian or a bookworm, but she was a soldier: she was dutiful, dependable, and she kept to a strict schedule. So while she might not be the first student in the lecture, she wasn't typically late.

But it hadn't been a typical day. It was pouring buckets of rain so all those New Yorkers without cars were forced to use the subway, and Clarisse already wasn't a peoples' person. Then her train had been delayed, a hobo stole her sausage-and-egg biscuit while she'd been yelling at the train conductor, and Slick Nick had _tried_ to steal her wallet while she raved about hobos, but thankfully she managed to chase _that one_ down.

All in all there weren't any major delays, but it was still enough to slow Clarisse down.

She was already preparing her fiercest glares for those stupid enough to gawk at her in her soaking-wet state, but when she entered the lecture hall she was caught off guard; it was practically empty. A few students were scattered around the room, prepping themselves for notes or scrolling through feed on a smartphone, but other than that it was empty. The professor hadn't even arrived yet.

As Clarisse's gaze scanned the hall her eyes came to rest on a particular seat; fifth row to the right, third seat from the front. Otherwise known as "Clarisse's Spot, Unless You Want Your Head On A Stake, Punk."

It was currently occupied by a thief: brown-eyed, black-haired boy who Silena would have considered handsome.

She stormed over to _her spot_ and slammed her bag down on _her desk._ The thief had been texting someone, but he immediately started at the sudden interruption. He looked up at Clarisse and opened his mouth, probably to demand some sort of explanation, but did a double take when he actually _saw_ her.

Yeah, she had the effect on a lot of people.

The thief grinned. "Well, hel _lo_ there."

Except, maybe not _that_ kind of effect…

Clarisse wasn't about to introduce herself or make pleasantries; she was soaking wet, she was hungry, and she was thoroughly aggravated. She was here to get her notes and get out, not make friends (even if the boy _was_ admittedly attractive…).

"Move," she simply growled.

The thief cocked an eyebrow. "Aaand I should do that… _why_?"

"Because you're sitting in _my spot_ ," she answered, gritting her teeth together. Today was _not_ the day to test her nonexistent patience.

The thief put on a big show of looking around the desk, looking underneath the chair and his bag, before shaking his head. "You must be mistaken. I don't see your name anywhere on this seat." He leaned towards her ever so slightly, brown eyes gleaming playfully. "But maybe if you told me your name I could check again and-"

She slammed her hands on either side of the desk and snarled, "Listen, you're screwing with the wrong person today. If you value your life you'll find a new desk in the next five seconds."

The thief didn't look frightened or intimidated, however; he looked disappointed if anything. It was seriously throwing Clarisse off her game. _What the heck is wrong with this dude?_

"Please tell me you treat all the nice boys this way, and you don't just hate me specifically?"

Clarisse threaded her fingers through her hair and contemplated ripping it out to relieve her frustration. "The Hades is your malfunction?" she demanded. "Why haven't you moved yet, and who- _who even are you_? I've never noticed you in this class before."

He grinned at her, probably thrilled that she hadn't strangled him yet (because the idea was _definitely_ appealing), and replied, "I actually just re-enrolled. See, I dropped out last year 'cause I kinda went insane - college stress, y'know? - and-"

"Forget it, I don't care," Clarisse interrupted him, and was startled by the fact that his puppy-dog-pout actually made her regret the action. _Focus, La Rue._ "Look, I'm not in the mood to pummel anyone. I'm wet, I'm exhausted, a hobo stole my breakfast and another one tried to _\- are you checking me out?!_ "

The thief's eyes suddenly snapped up towards her face again, and the fact that he had the decency to look sheepish was his only saving grace. That, and the fact that Clarisse was absolutely dumbfounded by this dude and wasn't sure what to make of him.

When facing the unforgiving wrath of Clarisse la Rue, most boys tended to cower or put on a show of false bravado. They didn't flirt with her, and they most definitely _did not_ check her out!

"Sorry," the freak apologized, grinning in a way that made Clarisse check her pocket for her wallet - she was _not_ going through that again. "I'd planned on checking you out when you went to find another desk, but I got kinda impatient. Nice body, by the way. You work out?"

The fact that this freak was still flirting with her coupled by the casual way the words rolled off his tongue was too much. She'd reached her 'people quota' for the day and this stranger/thief/freak was just pushing her limit. Still, she couldn't just surrender without giving him some sort of a warning.

Clarisse gripped the desk with her hands and leaned forward, and tried not to take much notice of the way that he leaned forward as well, almost _excitedly_. "Listen Punk," she growled lowly, "you're lucky I've had a shitty day and I'm too exhausted to put up with anymore crap. I'm going back to my apartment to dry off and get something to eat, and tomorrow morning if you're sitting in my seat again, I'm going to gut you like an animal and then hang you off the Brooklyn Bridge with your own intestines. Got it?"

Clarisse felt immensely proud of herself when she saw a sliver of fear enter the freak's eyes, though it faded quickly. The boy let out a low whistle and said, "wow. That's intense. Did you come up with that threat on your own, or did you-?"

"Ugh!" Clarisse snarled, frustrated. She spun around and stormed towards the door, exhausted and annoyed and-

"Hey, wait up!"

 _Unbelievable. I've found somebody more punchable than Percy Jackson!_ At least, that was what Clarisse thought until she turned around. The freak was chasing after her with something in his hand; a piece of paper?

"It's a coupon," he said, as he thrusted the paper into her hand. "It's for this really awesome place called Joey's; everything is made from scratch, and it's, like, freakin' amazing."

Clarisse eyed the boy wearily for a few seconds before reading the coupon: _One free sausage and egg biscuit._

"You know," the boy began, "because that hobo stole your breakfast."

It was strange, the effect that the small but thoughtful gesture had on Clarisse. Suddenly she wasn't really bothered by the way that her damp clothes clung to her body, or the chill that had settled in her bones.

"Um," she mumbled, not sure what to make of anything anymore, "thanks, I guess."

The boy shot her a smile that took the edge off her frustration, and soothed her raging nerves. "Don't mention it. I'm Chris, by the way."

"Clarisse," she returned wearily.

"Clarisse," Chris echoed, his smile widening. "That's pretty. You're pretty. You want some company while you eat that biscuit?"

It took a moment for Clarisse to process that he called her pretty, and even longer for her to process that he'd just asked to come along with her. _He's too smooth,_ she thought to herself. Silena thought that if a guy was smooth, he was worth a few dates. Clarisse thought that if a guy was smooth, he was dangerous.

But the way that he smiled at her was absolutely disarming, and the exact opposite of punchable, and maybe it was borderline downright kissable. Or maybe that was the hypothermia settling in.

 _Hypothermia,_ Clarisse mused. _Yeah, that's a good excuse._

"Fine," she agreed, trying to appear nonchalant. "But don't think that this means I'm letting you have my seat tomorrow."

"Of course not," Chris hummed, even as he openly checked her out again. Clarisse would have pummeled anyone else for such a blatant show, but Chris wasn't being an obnoxious jerk about it and besides, she kinda didn't hate the warm feeling his 'admiration' left her with.

"So," Chris started, once his examination was complete, "I know we have a partner-project coming up soon, and I think this breakfast date is going to be the beginning of a beautiful thing. Wanna be my partner?"

She really, _really_ didn't hate the warm feeling at all.

"Sure," Clarisse agreed, accidently smiling a lot more than she meant to.

 _Silena is definitely going to hear about this one._

* * *

 **This one-shot was a lot of fun to write! I love the idea of 'real life' Chris and Clarisse, so expect more of these in the future.**

 **I don't know if I've ever said this or not, but I'm completely open to requests! The only requirement is that they must be Chrisse-centric since this is, y'know, a Chrisse collection :)**

 **Reviews are wonderful/delightful/ absolutely appreciated!**

 **~ Katie**


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